Eiffel Tower coloured in green in respect of the attacks in Lahore: Photo Copyright AFP

On 27 March 2016, only a few days after the deadly attacks in Belgium, at least 75 people were killed and over 340 injured in a suicide bombing that hit the main entrance of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of the largest parks in Lahore, Pakistan.

I am sad...what saddens me even more is that there does not seem to global solidarity when such terrible attacks happen in the Middle East, Africa or in Asia, but only when attacks happen in the West. What happened to the one world, one race mentality? Where did we lose our ways? Or am I missing something here? Except the mainstream media, there seems to be little or no coverage elsewhere. Where is that SOLIDARITY that we all show when such attacks happen in Western countries? Food for thought. How sad and ironic that the word Pakistan means 'peace' in Urdu. This was the wish of the country's great founder and it is time we apply peace to the country's true standing.

For those who may get me confused, I am not a Pakistani or have anything to do with Pakistan, but I believe in the one world, one race mentality. It is time we stopped this madness of attacking innocent people just for the sake of getting a political point across. Attacks such as these only create business for media agencies and create fear in peoples mind- it does nothing to solve the problem. Proper dialogue and discussion on the table is what is really required. The world needs a true problem solving leader who can just get things done and be respected by everyone.

Relatives of the victims of a suicide bomb blast cry outside a hospital in Lahore: Photo Copyright AFP

Like the rest of the world, I first heard about the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 tragedy on the morning of the 8th of March. A simple message on my phone from a friend who lives in Shenzhen appeared: 'a Malaysia Airlines plane en-route to PEK is presumed crashed with 239 people on-board'. I was shocked (and still am shocked). The flight was code-shared with China Southern Airlines as CZ748. I could have been on that plane had I taken that route to Beijing. It could have been anyone of us. I frantically started browsing through the various news channels to get more updates. There was nothing any of the news updates could report except that a plane was lost...it was totally bewildering. To not get a word out was very disconcerting and unusual (and still is)…'How could a sophisticated and modern Boeing 777-200 aircraft at 35,000 feet get lost around an hour after take-off in this modern-tech age?' The plane's radar transponder (which provides a ‘squawk code’ that enables ATC to track it’s movements on radar), and VHF radio link were mysteriously disabled around an hour after take-off and no one knew where the plane was or where it was heading.

Since that day, the world's attention has been focused with great interest on this lost plane and its 239 passengers and crew (12 crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations and regions; the majority of passengers were Chinese citizens). One probably cannot even imagine the horror that the relatives and families of those on-board the aircraft are going through. I do believe that the media has been too intrusive and sometimes have gone over the top when focusing on the families. Being a journalist I know very well that photographers may have to get pictures of the grieving families to please their editors, as those pictures earn them their bread and butter (sadly..), however I don't want to or have to look at them. Not only is it bad taste, but also disrespectful and wrong in my opinion. I believe that in some media reports it was confirmed that family members even scuffled with the media scrum, asking them to stop taking photos of grieving relatives.

We are now led to believe that it has apparently crashed in the far reaches of the southern Indian Ocean. However, that being said, this case is still a mystery...and the truth, when we finally find and recover the wreckage (I believe they will), will be even more surprising and shocking as some of the theories that have been put forward.

There have been many theories relating to the plane’s disappearance, some of them perfectly valid, and some of them completely absurd and unbelievable. For three weeks, friends and relatives of those on-board have been hoping for news - any news- of the wreckage of the plane- but nothing so far has come out. This has understandably caused a sheer amount of frustration, anger, and complete mistrust with the airline and the Malaysian government by the relatives of those on-board this ill-fated flight.

Theories…Theories…And Yet More Theories (but no solid facts)

Whenever there is a situation like this involving a plane crash (or presumed plane crash etc), I tend not to watch the TV news reports too much because there are too many conflicting arguments to and fro, and without being disrespectful to anyone I can say that there are far too many ‘aviation experts’ and journalists alike all proposing their own theories. Second-guessing and speculation does no good and is of no value to nobody. I don't believe in conspiracy theories because they make little sense. It is better to wait until either the wreckage of the aircraft is found - which has not happened at the time of writing this blog.

Again, no offense intended to anyone, but you just wonder how on earth did some of these journalists become 'aviation experts' when some of them cannot even distinguish an aircraft type and they conjure up their own theories? Who gave them that title? It doesn't look good...and with all due respect even some airline pilots would not call themselves 'aviation experts'...they may be very good travel journalists who have reviewed luxury hotels, airlines etc....but lets not promote them or brand them as being an 'aviation expert'.I am not an aviation expert...that honorable title should be given to someone with a serious amount of technical knowledge about aviation, such as, for example, Flight Global's safety expert David Learmount and independent aviation expert Chris Yates. Both of them are highly admired within the industry. Then there are plenty of aviation experts at Boeing, Airbus, NASA etc.

Theories 1 and 5. could be plausible as 95% of crashes happen around 8 nautical miles either side of the airport below 3,000 feet and around 95% of aircraft fires happen in the first TWO hours of a flight (these are facts proven and well-known in the aviation industry). Airline pilots are rigorously trained during every simulator check (every 6 months) to realize quickly that the fire is uncontrollable, and then dive for the ground as quickly as possible before the wing burns through and find the nearest airport to land at (if possible)- all under 20 minutes. However, ditching any plane in the dark (this plane disappeared at around 01:20am) is not easy, and especially when you are flying at around 300 kph.

In the initial stages of the investigation, the only real evidence available to the public was the visual observation from an oil rig worker, a New Zealander called Mike McKay. He noted in his e-mail report (which was issued publicly as shown below), that he saw flames start, and go out, at altitude near where the Vietnamese radar trace concluded. An experienced Captain I know commented that his initial reactions upon reading this report ‘led him to assume a wing separation because of over-stressing of the airframe in an apparent recovery attempt from a stall and then an eventual uncontrollable spin straight into the sea.’ That particular Captain went on to say: ‘I figured the lack of debris due to the aircraft going straight-in, and compressing the 777 to the size of a bus.’ Nobody has publicly discounted Mr. McKay’s report, and there has been no proof so far…but yet more anguish and frustration for the families and relatives of the ones on-board the aircraft.

There were also many reports about the aircraft being picked-up on radar west of the Malay Peninsula. Nevertheless, the Chief of Royal Malaysian Air Force in a media statement rejected these unconfirmed reports on the 11th March (please see below)*

It is difficult to believe theories 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. This is because there is no proof of any such bomb, and no terrorist group from anywhere has claimed responsibility or any demand for ransom for hijacking (from past cases we have seen that terrorists and hijackers usually cannot help taking responsibility…).

Initially there were suspicions of terrorism or hijacking based on reports that two Iranian passengers boarded the flight with fake passports; however, it was eventually revealed that they were just after a better life in Europe. There would have been a clear demand from someone if this plane was held on ransom. A recent example of this was displayed on the 17th February earlier this year when an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 was hijacked by it's own First Officer and flown to Geneva. The hijacker, identified by officials as First Officer Hailemedehin Abera Tagegn, waited for his Captain to go to the toilet before locking himself in the cockpit. As with all hijacking events in history, we saw that the hijacker did contact someone to demand something- asylum in this case. However, in the case of Malaysia Airlines MH370 nobody contacted anyone.

Having spoken to some airline pilots, and listened to their theories from experience, I am led to understand that it may have been a fire on-board (smoke kills within a few minutes….quicker than we all think...and especially at high altitude). At some point, after its crew and passengers surrendered and become incapacitated by smoke, the aircraft would have been flying all by itself, and would have eventually gone down into the Indian Ocean once it ran out of fuel.

If the plane was in the cruise on auto-pilot for so many hours without human intervention (as people claim now)...can we say that it's a miracle that it did not collide with another aircraft?...shockingly sad, utterly heartbreaking and scary to think that a 'ghost' plane was flying in the sky with incapacitated people on board...terrible. The answer from a highly experienced Captain with over 28 years flying service was: ‘The sky is enormous, you'd be hard pressed to hit another aircraft…even if you tried it would not work….’

However, the investigation and interrogation by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and Inmarsat plc, the British satellite telecommunications company, has been verified and accepted. The investigators from that company now confirm a Southern Indian Ocean trajectory and loss of signal. We have to respect that they have enough information to make that call. At this point in time, you can’t help but wonder why they (the investigators) did not dispatch a couple of long-range reconnaissance aircraft, that could have photographed the whole hemisphere by now, from over 50-60,000 feet, and with minute detail.

Inmarsat sell auxiliary satellite bandwidth to airlines and shipping companies (passenger and freight), so they can provide constant movement connectivity anywhere on Earth. According to the company, around 90% of the world's wide-bodied jets come installed with Inmarsat antennas built in to the fuselage – whether or not the airline operating the plane ultimately uses it. Now, even though Malaysia Airlines did not use it for technical data transmission, nevertheless, the technology has been tremendously useful in the search operation. For the search teams’ time and the treacherous weather in the Indian Ocean are their biggest enemies at the moment because the battery of the ‘pinger’ from the aircraft’s black box is going to stop sending out signals soon.

As well as the relatives of those who were on flight MH370, thoughts are also with the searchers. There's a LOT of ocean to cover (much of it the deepest in the world, and undiscovered so far), and every one of those searches are doing the best they can. The air and sea search efforts have been shifting throughout this case, and have recently shifted yet again as fresh radar data suggested the aircraft headed south faster than initially thought, bringing the plane down some 1,100 kilometres north-east of the previous search area, putting the crash point 1,800 kilometers off Perth, Australia. One thing is for sure, this investigation also reveals the large amount of rubbish that is lurking around in our oceans (!).

It could have been accidentally shot-down by either the Malaysians or the Vietnamese…however, who would want to practice firing missiles at 2 a.m.?!; and when it seems that hardly anyone of the Military installations actually noticed the aircraft? Unless there are some issues that have not been monitored with the mental pilots health, no sane commercial airline pilot carrying passengers would even think of entering another country’s airspace - especially knowing that they have a military Air Force - without permission. You can bet your bottom dollar that the minute a civilian (or military) aircraft enters another country’s airspace without permission, then a bunch of air force fighter jets would be scrambled to get close and personal within minutes!

In regards to reports that some villagers in the Maldives saw a plane flying low doesn't sound plausible to me. No offense but anything bigger than a seaplane would seem 'big' to the people there because most of them have probably never seen a plane of that size. Anybody...and I mean ANYBODY...who has seen the only airport in the Maldives (i.e. Male Airport) large enough to take a Boeing 777 knows that you can't hide a plane of that size anywhere on that place. The airport, just like the islands around it, is TINY...the 777 would stick out like a sore thumb!

The plane would not be able to hide anywhere, even on a remote airfield. Why? Because it would have to go over land masses and it would easily have been captured on primary radar operated by the military. As I mentioned above that nobody can enter another country's airspace without being detected by the air defense zone radars.

It could have been pilot suicide. However, all the commercial pilots I have spoken to have told me that it is highly unlikely that the pilot would have committed suicide. In the entire history of commercial aviation, only 4 airline pilots have been documented to have committed suicide during flight…this includes: Silk Air 185, Egyptair 990, LAM Mozambique 470, and Royal Air Maroc 630. It’s a very privileged career where individuals spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and many years to get trained, and are being regularly examined every 3-6 months for simulator training, in-flight checks, and health checks. It must take a very mentally disturbed and sick individual to take his and others lives with him on a plane.

No sane pilot wants to die or kill anyone..or even think of such idiotic things. Pilots have the moral duty of taking ownership and responsibility to save lives FIRST before anything in an emergency- safety is everything in aviation. Unless there is concrete evidence that this pilot committed suicide, it's a very difficult theory to accept and swallow.

The Boeing 777 aircraft has an exceedingly impressive safety record – the first fatal crash in its 19-year history only came in July 2013, when an Asiana Airlines (read about it here) aircraft crash landed short of the runway at San Francisco International Airport. Three of the 307 people aboard died. Besides the Asiana Airlines crash, the only other serious incident with the Boeing 777 came in January 2008 when a British Airways B777-200 landed short of the southern runway at London’s Heathrow airport without any serious casualties.

Brand Malaysia Airlines Damaged?

As the saying goes in PR that ‘any publicity, is good publicity’…however there is question in this case when it comes to a sad and tragic event like this. 'If you love life, don't fly with Malaysia Airlines!!' shouted one relative of a passenger on ‪#‎MH370 as the Malaysian PM gave the news conference...at that point you would have thought that the Airline and the Government had shot themselves in their own foot (the above quote taken from twitter).

According to a friend who flies the Airbus A330, there is a saying in the aviation industry that if an airline is on the front pages for more than TWO weeks, then it's bound for failure. If that statement is true then Malaysia Airlines may be history. However, I think that the airline may survive this bad episode because: 1. It's the national flag carrier of Malaysia, and 2. Malaysia Airlines is strongly financially backed by the Malaysian government and Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad. The airline may be struggling (it has been some time), however I am optimistic that Malaysia Airlines will eventually bounce back in the future. They may initially reduce the fares and go for a heavily tempting PR campaign to increase interest, OR the worst-case scenario may be that it could be taken into the hands of a low-cost carrier, such as Tony Fernandes’ Air Asia (though the latter statement may not be plausible).

Bear in mind that national flag carriers have gone bust in the past (Olympic Airways, Sabena Belgian Airlines, Swiss Air (before it was re-branded), VIASA Venezuelan Airlines, VARIG Brazilian, Balkan Bulgarian, MALEV Hungarian and many others), however it must be noted that these airlines were not provided strong financial support by their own financially struggling governments. It must also be noted that some major airlines have gone bust after experiencing disasters. Prime examples include Pan Am (after the Lockerbie disaster), TWA 800, and Swiss 111. However, in these respects, Malaysia Airlines is fortunate to have solid support from their government.

I firmly believe that until any concrete evidence has been presented, then those Malaysia Airlines crew and passengers should be hailed as heroes for trying to save the plane from disaster, but were unable to do so for whatever reason (fire…most likely considering what’s been presented). It’s not good of the tabloid newspaper editors for writing articles that may be deemed untrue and certainly not good to mislead their readers without any facts or proof.

While the families are understandably upset with the airline and the Malaysian government, it must be noted that the airline is just an observer that is passing the information from the investigators to the public. And in this case we have investigators and search teams from around 25 countries, so therefore the ability to communicate effectively and coordinate together as ONE team in a smooth fashion is absolutely crucial. There is not much an airline can do once an investigation starts except keep the media and families of the crew and passengers informed , and therefore it is obviously causing friction because the public are not getting much information from the airline or the government. The airline’s role and credibility is measured by how they treat the families, and how they handle the media. The one good thing this has revealed is the frightfully negligent way we have approved airplane safety, particularly design of black box.

Without any doubt whatsoever, we have seen ourselves on the TV screens in the past three weeks that the airline has mishandled the media (and vice-versa), and that comes across bad from any PR prospect. It just shows that the airline may have not been prepared for such an event. Perhaps this would be an excellent learning curve for all other airlines around the world too. They key word here is ‘investigation’- and so the airline cannot really do much except wait for the investigators to complete their job. When an aviation disaster happens, the airline and the management team of the airline are mere observers, and wait for what the investigators come out with.

The airline has no doubt one of the best in-flight products in the industry. I fondly recall the words of Mr. Martin Barrow -former non-executive director of Malaysia Airlines- inviting me some years ago to try their product: 'Why don't you try MAS, Navjot? Best cabin crew in the world'. Nevertheless, far fetched from reality, the airline is going through some tough times indeed.

A week ago when the families vented their angry and frustration during one of the chaotic press conferences, the only words I could think of were: complete madness...completely diabolical...too many 'aviation experts/cooks' in the kitchen...too much clutter/confusion...too much media intrusion around the grieving families...too many theories. We can only hope that the relatives will have some news soon on what exactly happened to their loved ones in their final moments. The one good thing this event revealed is the frightfully negligent way we have approved airplane safety, particularly the design of the black box.

It's a mystery that not one piece of the plane has been found. It's a truly amazing situation the aviation industry has found themselves in - though I do believe that it may take time before we find something. When people point to the size of the aircraft, the answer to that is simple: the aircraft is not big at all. In fact it's probably the size of one bottle cap in a large sea. If it went straight into the ocean then it would have turned immediately into a metal box perhaps the size of a small bus...especially if it went in nose first, at speed...and everything else would have sadly been either vaporised or turned into minute shrapnel pieces.

Until concrete evidence is presented, I, like many others, believe that we should not label the crew on that plane as terrorists, suicidal, or anything else negative...but as heroes who were frantically trying to get the plane safely back on the ground but could not do so._______________________________________________________________________________

My sincere thanks to my friends and colleagues, many of whom are professionals in the aviation industry and are touched by this case, and who contributed with their thoughts to this article. - Navjot Singh

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-2H6/ER seen climbing out after departure from Vienna Airport- the aircraft that has gone missing is similar to this: Photo Copyright Thierry Deutsch

﻿*The Royal Malaysia Air Force has rejected the media reports that it tracked the Boeing 777 after it turned west in a statement posted on its Facebook page and reproduced in full below.﻿ (This statement could be read as confirming the substance of the reports, that the RMAF did in fact follow MH370 as reported.) OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY CHIEF OF ROYAL MALAYSIAN AIR FORCE ON BERITA HARIAN NEWS ARTICLE DATED 11th MARCH 2014 ON SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA 1. I refer to the Berita Harian news article dated 11th March 2014 on Search and Rescue Operations in the Straits of Malacca which (in Bahasa Malaysia) referred to me as making the following statements: The RMAF Chief confirmed that RMAF Butterworth airbase detected the location signal of the airliner as indicating that it turned back from its original heading to the direction of Kota Bahru, Kelantan, and was believed to have pass through the airspace of the East Coast of and Northern Peninsular Malaysia. The last time the plane was detected by the air control tower was in the vicinity of Pulau Perak in the Straits of Malacca at 2.40 in the morning before the signal disappeared without any trace, he said. 2. I wish to state that I did not make any such statements as above, what occurred was that the Berita Harian journalist asked me if such an incident occurred as detailed in their story, however I did not give any answer to the question, instead what I said to the journalist was “Please refer to the statement which I have already made on 9 March 2014, during the press conference with the Chief of Defence Force at the Sama-Sama Hotel, Kuala Lumpur International Airport”. 3. What I stated during that press conference was, The RMAF has not ruled out the possibility of an air turn back on a reciprocal heading before the aircraft vanished from the radar and this resulted in the Search and Rescue Operations being widen to the vicinity of the waters of Pulau Pinang. 4. I request this misreporting be amended and corrected to prevent further misinterpretations of what is clearly an inaccurate and incorrect report. 5. Currently the RMAF is examining and analyzing all possibilities as regards to the airliner’s flight paths subsequent to its disappearance. However, for the time being, it would not be appropriate for the RMAF to issue any official conclusions as to the aircraft’s flight path until a high amount of certainty and verification is achieved. However all ongoing search operations are at the moment being conducted to cover all possible areas where the aircraft could have gone down in order to ensure no possibility is overlooked. 6. In addition, I would like to state to the media that all information and developments will be released via official statements and press conferences as soon as possible and when appropriate. Our current efforts are focused upon on finding the aircraft as soon as possible. Thank You GENERAL TAN SRI DATO’SRI RODZALI BIN DAUD RMAF Chief of Royal Malaysian Air Force Released On: 11 March 14 Kuala Lumpur

The last time I briefly spoke to my former schoolmate Talha was just after we completed our A-Level exams in the summer of 1998 at the prestigious private school Dulwich College in southeast London. There was a brief exchange of pleasantries and a summit-firm handshake between us to wish each other well for our future lives after school. Little did I know that our directions would be so different from that moment onwards. After spending nearly six years in a British jail awaiting extradition to America on terrorist charges, Syed Talha Ahsan from Tooting in southwest London has now faced extradition to America after losing his appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, alongside four other terrorist suspects including the radical preacher Abu Hamza. Born in 1979 in London, Talha, a graduate of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), was arrested by British police acting on a US search warrant in July 2006. US prosecutors allege that both Talha and his friend Babar Ahmad ran a radical website from south London, and they should be prosecuted on American soil because that website was hosted on an American internet service provider. It is claimed they used the now defunct site - Azzam Publications - to upload extremist videos, raise funds for the Taliban and support other insurgents in Chechnya and Bosnia. The pair were also allegedly communicating with a naval enlistee on the destroyer USS Benfold in the straits of Hormuz during the summer of 2001 and were given classified plans of the battle group. The charges claim Talha provided support to terrorists and engaged in conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim or injure, or damage property in a foreign country. It is also alleged by the Americans that Talha fought in Afghanistan. Their website, with its material about “holy war” in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya gives an insight into their activity and much of the material is still on the internet. If convicted in the US, then Talha, who allegedly suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, could face the rest of his life in solitary confinement in ADX Florence in Colorado, a so-called Supermax prison where he has claimed conditions amount to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. His supporters, who have set up an ambitious ‘free Talha Ahsan campaign website’, claim that Talha deserves a fair trial in the UK rather than in the US. The 2003 Extradition Act has been the subject of on-going campaigns in Britain, most notably but the alleged hacker Gary McKinnon, who won his right not to be extradited to the US. Opponents say it is unjust and a represents a loss of sovereignty.

My former class fellow, who was being held alongside Babar Ahmed at the high security Long Lartan prison in Worcestershire, was known to pass time by writing poems. He denies any involvement in any terrorist activities. Like most of the chaps that went to school with Talha, my initial reaction on reading his name in the newspapers in relation to terror charges was one of utter shock and just disbelief. 'Surely it can't be our Talha?’ was the question on the lips of those who knew him well from his days at school. It’s just something that you don’t expect to read about from a guy who has been privileged with an elite education, softly-spoken personality, and a middle class background. I would never have imagined on that summer’s day in 1998 while taking the sixth-form leavers photo shoot at Dulwich that I was standing two feet away from a guy who would one day become one of the world's most wanted terror suspects. At school I fondly recall him being highly intelligent, highly studious and very intellectual. He was a man with a polite and disciplined demeanour, who came across as shy and profoundly faithful to his religion but also a fantastic bloke who got along with everyone. In the first indication of his strong beliefs around Islam, he started growing a wispy beard during the sixth-form but he possessed a shrewd personality that was enough to prevent, deferentially, questions of a too-private nature. Alongside that came along a supernatural calmness in his manner combined with absolute respect for whatever his teachers and peers asked of him. He most certainly was not the eccentric type and definitely not vocal or aggressive. I was not his close friend, but we attended some classes together and we shared a few jokes like most kids do at school. Everyone in the school knew who he was, especially those who followed Islam because of his active leadership of the school’s ‘Society for the study of Islam’. As a young man he was perhaps the most religious in the whole school at that time and as he grew older, Talha became more influenced by Islamic ideologies. But he came across as a true scholar who threw himself into the articles of his faith, rather than organised fundamental religion. More often than not he could be seen walking with a text book clutched tightly in his hand, or studying in a corner seat of the school’s library at lunchtime. He wasn’t a macho figure in any way, rather the opposite with a short yet athletic physique. During the latter years of his schooling, he seldom took part in any physical sports, instead focusing on spending his spare time either studying in the school’s library, or organising community service trips to nearby hospitals and care homes for the elderly. So how could someone with such glittering credentials end up being wanted for global terrorism charges? Could it be that his naïve competency have led Talha to become an easy target for those who wanted to use his educated mindset? Or could he have been brainwashed and swindled into a downward spiral where he ended up becoming socially incompetent and engaged with the wrong personalities? Maybe. It’s difficult to know, and the sad fact is that we may not know real truth for a very long time. Maybe something or someone outside school influenced his approach. Though not politically motivated he was keenly engaged when prominent political personalities visited the school. A particular moment sticks out. When the former UK Foreign Secretary Lord Douglas Hurd gave a speech at the school’s Great Hall in 1997, Talha fired a barrage of questions relating to Kashmir, and the border disputes between Israel and Palestine. The subject seemed to be very close to his heart. Bearing in mind that this all happened years before 9/11 happened, and at a time when global security was not as serious a threat as it is nowadays, at that time I did not give a second thought. Now I am not so sure what to think. Very little is known about what happened to Talha after he left Dulwich except that he went to SOAS and graduated with a first class honours degree in Arabic Studies. At the time of his arrest in 2006, Talha was actively looking for jobs as a librarian. Former schoolmates have mentioned that both Barbar Ahmad and Talha used to attend the Balham mosque, and that’s where their friendship blossomed. The pair attended different universities - Ahmad went to Imperial College to study Aeronautical Engineering – but both men were involved in their university Islamic societies. Whatever the circumstances, both Babar’s and Talha’s case is a stark reminder of the confused and conflicted identity of some young Muslims in Britain who are drawn into radicalism at some point in their youth.

Talha’s transformation from being a gifted scholar to a global terrorism suspect would, in my view, have happened at university rather than at school. It all echoes the words of the Home Secretary, Theresa May, who told The Daily Telegraph in 2011 that universities were not taking the issue of radicalisation seriously enough and that it was too easy for Muslim extremists to form groups on campuses “without anyone knowing”. Since the early 1990s, the growth of radicalism among students has led to quite a number of cases in the past where gifted university students have shocked the world by leading double lives as terrorists. Examples in recent years have included Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, a UCL student who attempted to blow up a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 with a device in his underpants, Yassin Nassari, a University of Westminster graduate who was jailed for three years in 2007, and Kafeel Ahmed, a Queen’s University Belfast graduate who died of horrific burns after driving a Jeep packed with gas canisters into Glasgow airport in 2007. Talha and Babar Ahmad were both born in Britain, and both had a privileged childhood, but it’s perhaps not as shocking that their paths at university have led them to such fundamental radicalism. That is to say, they both appear to share the thoughts of young British Muslims, who are longing to belong, but are struggling to find anything in British society with which they could strongly identify. Whatever may have happened to him after school, one thing is for sure is that every time I see that school photo the thought keeps coming to my mind, could this chap I used to sit next to at school really have become one of the world’s most wanted terrorism suspects? I clearly remember his complements just after that school photo was taken. ‘Keep in touch. I’ll probably see you in 10 years time at a school reunion or somewhere similar,’ said Talha. It is a disastrous turn in his life that he has ended up like this. What could possibly have triggered this man to go from the dreaming spires of Dulwich to the humiliation of a rotting prison cell? If anything, Talha’s life is nothing short of stuff made out of novels.

- This article was first published on the Huffington Post online blog: HERE.

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Here I share my thoughtsand experiences duringmy travels, and how some things have affected my life as an expat and world traveller. Travelling is about capturing that moment in life. Every word, view and opinion on this page is that of Navjot Singh - except where indicated. The most recent is at the top. Scroll down to read the archive. Or search using CTRL+F (COMMAND + F) and enter a keyword to search the page. Just some of the stories you never heard before.

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